Thorium
Torio (Th, Z=90)
- Date
- 1829 · confidence high
- Place
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Credited to
- Jöns Jacob Berzelius
- People
- 👤 Jöns Jacob Berzelius1779–1848
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Berzelius identified a new oxide in a mineral from Løvøya (Norway) sent by Esmark and named it after the god Thor.
Its radioactivity was discovered almost 70 years later.
What it led to
- Auer incandescent gas mantles
- Discovery of thorium's radioactivity (Curie and Schmidt, 1898)
- Thorium-uranium fuel cycle reactors
Built on
- Norwegian mineralogy
- Berzelius's analysis
Made possible
- Auer mantle
- Thorium molten-salt reactor